18 minutes ago, e-a-g-l-e-s eagles! said:

We need that Simpsons meme with Fontenot as Chief Wiggum and Cousins as Krusty where he's telling Cousins "We made a terrible, terrible mistake" as they take the handcuffs off him.

15 minutes ago, HazletonEagle said:

His hamstring was never an issue this season. That was made up to rationalize early in the season and protect the QB. And he hasnt lost a step.

He literally just missed a game because of his hamstring

6 minutes ago, eagle45 said:

1 hour ago, eagle45 said:

OK, this is great data. But let's take the next step and ask ourselves: WHY??

Kevin Patullo and Nick Siriani are not a 2nd grade Madden beginner who keeps picking the same Madden play. Maybe they are good at designing an offense. Maybe they are terrible at it. But they are professionals. That means they have more routes memorized in the back of their minds than all of us on the blog combined. Siri was a freaking WR himself.

So WHY the incessant hitch routes? Do they just want their receivers to run the same route every time?

I'm sorry, but this keeps going back to what they can and cannot run with Hurts, the tush push, and trying to avoid turnovers. When the Eagles want to test a defense downfield, it's a deep ball on a go route along the sidelines asking a WR to run under it and beat their coverage. Minimal risk or chance of turnover...and if it is, it's a punt. The rest of the field isn't utilized...harder to process, easier to toss an INT.

Every other team in football history runs their hitch routes either as coverage sucking decoys or terminates them just beyond the sticks for first down targets. The Eagles run them short of the sticks and target these routes. The coverage is softer, DBs are less likely to jump routes short of the sticks, and a reception gets them in tush push range. Kellen Moore did the same thing last year. It just worked better.

This is a foundational principle of the Eagles passing offense. These hitch routes are both what Hurts is comfortable throwing and what the coaches are comfortable having him throw. The whole offense is built around getting into short yardage situations. Last year, they reliably did so with big runs on early downs, more Hurts runs with success, and efficient short completions with these routes. This year, the running aspect is gone and the league has caught on to their approach.

Siri has literally, openly said, they call plays like it's 1st and 9 and the defense doesn't know it. The hitch route obsession is a product of that approach. They didn't forget the other routes and the rest of the playbook at home. I don't know how good it's going to look if they open it up with Jalen Hurts throwing all over the place. And neither do the coaches. That's why they won't do it.

I think you are giving Sirianni and Patullo too much credit. I agree that Hurts' limitations do influence the play calling. There are plenty of QBs that have limitations and an offensive play caller that can play to their strengths without stagnant route combinations.

14 hours ago, ManuManu said:

I can’t get Deniz’s tweet to post properly…

The Eagles as an outlier this season doesn't make sense based on just what works for Hurts. This reflects some defect in the playcalling process or in the offensive concepts. It's not simply a matter of only calling for passes they are sure Jalen can make.

6 minutes ago, Sack that QB said:

Nextgen stats have him running faster on average per route run than last season. I'd be interested in someone doing a side by side video comparison to him last year with the same exact routes. Hitch routes, verticals, and curls are not typically routes that get a lot of separation. They're timing and accuracy based.

Ajs best routes have been slants, crossers digs go balls deep posts and all patullo has him running all game is outs hooks and curls and like one go ball a game.

Also the absence of RPOs has hurt AJs production, For whatever reason, whether its hurts or patullo or analytics RPOs havent been used much this season.

Last game they threw aj more slants but still not really anything over short or deep middle

No digs, no crossers, no deep posts, and when he is open running those routes hurts doesnt throw it to him or misses him.

I think the way the offense is designed and tje routes they have AJ running arent maximizing his skill set.

I think its a case of offensive coaches trying to fit players into their offense instead of designing an offense around the players skill sets.

3 minutes ago, LeanMeanGM said:

He literally just missed a game because of his hamstring

Nope, that is in your imagination.

38 minutes ago, bpac55 said:

I wonder if ATL could be a potential destination for Tanner McKee. This is Penix's 3rd ACL tear.

I think they'll go crawling back to Kirk Cousins:

10 minutes ago, Alphagrand said:

We need that Simpsons meme with Fontenot as Chief Wiggum and Cousins as Krusty where he's telling Cousins "We made a terrible, terrible mistake" as they take the handcuffs off him.

22 minutes ago, Sack that QB said:

Nextgen stats have him running faster on average per route run than last season. I'd be interested in someone doing a side by side video comparison to him last year with the same exact routes. Hitch routes, verticals, and curls are not typically routes that get a lot of separation. They're timing and accuracy based.

Where are the stats? I saw you say it but didn't see anything.

5 minutes ago, LeanMeanGM said:

He literally just missed a game because of his hamstring

He missed 4 weeks. He looked completely fine practicing even before he got cleared to come back. He took MORE than enough time with that injury. People believed when he came back he was slowed by it. It was never an issue.

Also NextGen typically shows peak or max speed, not average

1 minute ago, HazletonEagle said:

He missed 4 weeks. He looked completely fine practicing even before he got cleared to come back. He took MORE than enough time with that injury. People believed when he came back he was slowed by it. It was never an issue.

So why did he not play against the Giants?

3 hours ago, Diehardfan said:

He’s correct which is why I see that eagles losing Sunday. Dallas has a great kicker so getting to eagles 40 will be enough for them to probably score on most of their drives. As great as the defense is the offense keeps letting teams hang around to have a chance at the end. It just takes a fluke DPI or missed tackle for eagles to lose in playoffs if the eagles offense keep scoring 13-16pts.

Just now, LeanMeanGM said:

So why did he not play against the Giants?

People were makign that excuse all season prior to that game. It was not an issue.

Giants game looked like a rest game with extra time to recover during the bye. Lots of guys needed that. 

Did he not have his biggest game of the season just prior to sitting out of the Giants game? The leg was never slowing him down.

2 minutes ago, LeanMeanGM said:

So why did he not play against the Giants?

Hurts.

His hammy, that is

20 minutes ago, HazletonEagle said:

Hes running his routes faster, and is getting less separation which tells you CBs are just ready for whats coming. Its in his utilization. And, his QB is playing worse.

His hamstring was never an issue this season. That was made up to rationalize early in the season and protect the QB. And he hasnt lost a step.

You cant even argue that he is dogging it because he is apathetic. Because that data tells you he is not.

Its just the utilization issue as it has been from the beginning. This is why he is frustrated people...

Yup if every game the coach was having me run 50 curl and hook routes a game id be frustrated too.

I hate it in patullos pressers or nicks pressers when they talk about staying up late figuring out the offense then sunday comes and what do they do, run 4 curl routes on 3rd and 7, 45 times a game.😒

At this point id rather they just go no huddle the whole game like against the rams in the 2nd half and let hurts run the show because the trash concepts patullo and nick are employing isnt cutting it.

1 minute ago, HazletonEagle said:

People were makign that excuse all season prior to that game. It was not an issue.

Giants game looked like a rest game with extra time to recover during the bye. Lots of guys needed that. 

Did he not have his biggest game of the season just prior to sitting out of the Giants game? The leg was never slowing him down.

That's just silly. Extra time to recover during the bye from what? His hamstring?

Nobody rested the Giants game. Everyone healthy to play, played. AJ Brown was not healthy enough to play.

10 minutes ago, e-a-g-l-e-s eagles! said:

Gosh, we are in some great company.

10 minutes ago, e-a-g-l-e-s eagles! said:

This is such a huge issue -- Barkley was RARELY stopped for a negative run last year. This year, it happens on almost every drive.

4 minutes ago, LeanMeanGM said:

That's just silly. Extra time to recover during the bye from what? His hamstring?

Nobody rested the Giants game. Everyone healthy to play, played. AJ Brown was not healthy enough to play.

Even if he tweaked it in his big game, a 2 week absence indicates a minor strain. Again, never something that was slowing him down this season. Not silly, just facks.

11% of the offensive plays are for negative yardage???? That's embarrassing.

If that number doesn't come down by the end of the year, Patullo will be gone.

43 minutes ago, e-a-g-l-e-s eagles! said:

I've never seen Hard Knocks series, is it just limited access to what the team allows or heavily edited? Does it actually reveal anything not previously known?

1 minute ago, Mike31mt said:

11% of the offensive plays are for negative yardage???? That's embarrassing.

If that number doesn't come down by the end of the year, Patullo will be gone.

Thats just a ridiculously embarrassing stat, especially for the most expensive offense in the league that has 10 of 11 starters back